A few weeks ago I was in Olympia (it misses you Bert!) reviewing grant applications. As I tend to do whenever I have time and my camera, I set out in search of gardening goofs that evening. Here’s the edge of a relatively new commercial site I discovered:
OK, not too bad so far. We’ve got a nice stone mulch next to the curb, then a lovely groundcover, in flower, that also functions as a living mulch. … Continue reading this article “Why won’t landscapers use mulch?”
Just back from a quick vacation to Little Cayman island. Truly a dot on the map – the whole island is about 7 miles long and a mile wide. Only 150 locals and a couple hundred tourists are on island at any one time. It’s beyond laid back, with few attractions other than the resident iguanas and red-footed boobies (booby jokes abound).
Airport terminal/post office/fire station.
The big draw is diving – LC is the home to Bloody Bay Wall, one of the most famous dives in the Caribbean. … Continue reading this article “Pigmented Mulch in Paradise”
With increasing interest in reducing monocultural swaths of turf, summer water consumption, and the drudgery of mowing, many people are eliminating part or all of their lawns. We did this at home some years ago and can attest to the tangible benefit of reduced water bills during our dry summer months.
The question I often get is – how? Do you dig up the turf and throw it out, then fill in with topsoil? Or do you cut it, flip it, and then plant on top of it?… Continue reading this article “How to get rid of your lawn”
Mulch is always an interesting point of discussion as well as the topic of several past GP posts. But I honestly can’t recall if we’ve covered dyed mulch, and can’t search the site, so here goes.
I recently received a request for information from Debbie Dillon, a fine Urban Horticulturist with Virginia Cooperative Extension. She noted the increased use of dyed mulch in the Northern Virginia area, and has been fielding questions from both landscape designers and homeowners regarding the safety of said mulch and the potential for harmful effects on plants.… Continue reading this article “Is Black The New Brown?”
One of the gardening topics I’ve researched extensively is the use of landscape mulches. (You can read a literature review I did a few years ago here.) So I was more than a little frustrated to see one of the worst mulching techniques – sheet mulching – extolled in the book Gaia’s Garden (pp. 85-90).
Sheet mulches, like newspaper and cardboard, can be used successfully as a temporary weed control measure (i.e. a few weeks before planting a vegetable garden). … Continue reading this article “Permaculture – more concerns”
I love living in Seattle…but I’m getting increasingly impatient with the City’s “Building Healthy Soils” propaganda. For years I’ve questioned their recommendation to perpetually amend landscape soil with organic material to no avail. Let’s see what you all think of their “fact sheet” (which you can read here in its entirety).
“The best way to improve the soil is to add plenty of compost or other organic matter throughout the entire planting area before planting. Thoroughly mixing these materials deep into the soil helps provide water, air and nutrients to plant roots.”… Continue reading this article “Building healthy soils?”
Recently I was asked to comment about a rash of e-mails floating around cyber-space concerning the toxicity to dogs of mulch made from crushed cocoa bean hulls. Cocoa mulch is by-product of cocoa production. The dark brown mulch is aesthetically and aromatically pleasing, giving the garden a rich, chocolately scent. Since theobromine, a naturally occurring compound in chocolate is toxic to dogs, the internet is now filled with cyber-legends of dogs eating cocoa mulch and keeling over dead.… Continue reading this article “Will cocoa mulch kill my dog?”
It’s hard to think of mulch as a controversial topic but, as with most things these days, we find people on both sides of an issue. And, as with most things these days, some of opinions are based on substance, others are not. In the southern U.S. some environmental groups are advocating a boycott of cypress mulch.
Cypress mulch is derived from baldcypress and pond cypress, which grow in ecologically sensitive wetlands in the Southeast. Cypress wood is highly valued for is natural decay resistance. … Continue reading this article “Should I boycott cypress mulch?”
I’m in love…with arborist wood chips. These are not your beauty barks or other packaged mulches, but the chipped branches and leaves fresh from the tree crews. It’s a great way to keep this resource out of the landfill – and don’t even get me started about using this great mulch material for a “biofuel!”
I’ve written about wood chip mulches a lot, but thought today I would post some photos to show you how well they work in suppressing weeds and promoting growth in restoration sites. … Continue reading this article “Wonderful wood chips”
I’ve been receiving a lot of questions about rubber mulch lately. For those of you not familiar with the product, it consists of shredded tires that can be dyed and used on ornamental landscapes or under playground equipment. In fact, the Obamas had this material installed underneath their children’s play structure at the White House. It seems an ideal way to recycle the 290 million scrap tires we generate annually.
But is it?
It’s not effective: One of the main reasons we use mulch is to suppress weeds. … Continue reading this article “Rubber mulch rubs me the wrong way”